NuForce Optoma HEM6 Reference Class Hi-Res in-Ear Headphones with Triple Balanced Armature Drivers

This is a layman's review. I am not a professional audio person, but I do have a discerning ear. And, in summary, I will say that there is a tangible, significant difference over some other pretty decent earbuds/phones that I own. Not an apples to apples comparison, but I decided to share how the HEM8s compare to  Bose QuietComfort 20 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones, Samsung and Android Devices, Black  and  Beyerdynamic T51i Portable Headphones, Silver/Black and playing through a  FiiO E12A Mont Blanc IEM Special Edition Portable Headphone Amp, Titanium  In terms of clarity, the HEM8 is the clear winner and the most realistic. They give you the feeling that you are actually in the studio with the recording artist. There is an extra, vivid dimension to the songs due to how well the instruments are distinctly segmented. The foam earbud tips are my favorites. They expand to fit snuggly in the ear canal. Incredible light and comfortable. My only gripe is the black cloth case that is a dirt and lent magnet. I swapped the case out for this inexpensive one -  imoli Hard Carrying Case for External Hard Drive, Power Bank, USB Flash Disk, Small Electronics and Accessories (Black)

This is a hard high-end headphone to classify. On one hand they come with premium packaging and a decent selection of tips. Plus it comes with a premium case so you can transport them. On the other hand they are a mid-centric in-ear that doesn't seem to do one thing particularly well. The headphones struggle to be neutral in that they don't feature overpowering bass. They also don't particularly sparkle in the treble department. It was only after I amped these that they started to shine. Plugging them directly into a computer or phone yielded less than amazing results. So there's the rub. Who is this headphone designed for?For reference I have a custom set of quad 1964 ears that I had made as universals. These headphones rock on an iPhone but they shimmer with life when amped. The same can be said of the gorgeous Shure SE846 which are simply the best in-ear headphones I have ever had the pleasure of owning. All of these headphones have one thing in common and that is that they are balance armature headphones. Balanced armature work by placing a tiny coil between some magnets. Current causes the coil to move and that creates a sound frequency. This is why you need multiple drivers in a BA headphone. Each driver produces a particular frequency and the crossovers bring the sound together.There are a lot of schools of thought on burn in. I don't think you can burn in BA headphones but in the interest of doing a fair review I did play these for about 60 hours with a revolving playlist to "loosen" them up. The sound before and after were no different.My biggest issue with these headphones is that the mid is overpowering. It's sort of the reverse of the "U" shape sound you get with Sennheiser headphones. It also lacks the dynamics you get with a set of Westone quads. Those manage to be incredibly neutral. These tend to feel recessed in the vocals department across just about every genre. Sure, sound is subjective, and everyone will hear music differently. But for a $500 headphone I expect them to be a bit more refined.One strong positive. The non-tangling cord is the best I've had yet. These things simply don't tangle. The second set of cables is a good set and features a microphone for making calls. The selection of tips is okay but there are a lot of tips you can buy. I think these sound good with Shure olives but your milage may vary.

Good headphones. To compare I only have on hands sony xba - z5, sennheiser ie-800, sony hear in, sony hear on, sennheiser urbanite xl, sony z7.THis hem 8 beats all but z7, but that's not in competition, it needs amp by necessity the latter, so if you got some to spend on crazy little headphones and are brave enough to pay this much for something that can cost as little as 10 bucks, GO FOR IT. This are worth it. Why you may say? technology, this are the newest and they seem honest people about their product, this sound really nice with the Sony Walkman Zx2 which is by the way another little thousand bills of 1 dollar each, only for the music lover, ahh I'm not from that company or anything, I'm just fan of theirs.This ones have the best bass of all. What this shines on is on the cymbals, side drum long framed side drum or what ever and something we crazy people call 3d high definition, visual depth of music and that sort of thing. Ahh, I also got the AK 70 and by the way, this ones sound much better on the mentioned Sony hi player than on the AK 70. The XBA -z5 sounds awesome on both, but hem 8 much better on Sony than riding on Astell Kern. Don't know how such crazy difference form crazy gadgets made for even more mad people exists, but my advice is you may go for it if you want.

Bought this after trying out HEM6. Soundstage is much better and cleaner. You do notice a bump in bass with additional BA. highly recommended for those wanting something in the line of Shure SE series or Westone UM Pro series.

I bought these in late 2016 and in that time I've had 1 cable break, 3 (THREE) right ear drivers burn out and 1 non-functional left ear driver sent to me. After the first burnout I had to continually message their customer support for the 'privilege' of buying a replacement driver, but was able to do so and bought a spare, just in case. Both the original driver, the driver I bought, AND the spare all burnt out in the span of 2 years.Now, their customer support won't even let me buy replacement parts. This is, without a doubt, the worst use of $400 I have ever had in my life.Do not buy from this company.

They are great and a terrific price. They are almost as good as my Senn 650's and I can use them while on the road withoput drawing too much attention. They also have great exterior sound isolation.

It's a example of a wrong bass

Los HEM8 asi como se empezaron a hacer muy populares, llamaron mi atencion.-Presentación-están en un empaque impecable, incluyen un estuche rígido de acrílico rígido transparente que es algo que se agradece enormemente,adicionan un estuche pequeño semi-rigido para portar en la mochila (aunque es un imán de polvo y pelusa)Una cantidad insana de Nibs que uno no sabe ni por donde empezar a probar, incluyendo nibs de Foam Memory (que no eh probado aun)2 cables para el uso, un cable para SmartPhones con micrófono y botón de responder llamadas y otro para el uso de monitor, ambosson de cable delgado y tensan enormemente si sientes que se dan un tirón porque no dan la sensación de ser súper resistentes.el material de la capsula es un poco decepcionante pues uno espera palpar algo inmensamente fino y rígido y esto no transmite esa sensaciónpero si logran su cometido que anuncian, dando una sensación de cero vibraciones. incluso a volúmenes elevados no percibes que la capsula este vibrando como en auriculares de diadema u otros In-Ears, como comentario adicional la unión de cable al auricular dejo mucho que desear. vengo de unos Shure SE535 y en tacto y embalaje se perciben mucho mas duraderos y premium, pero que esto le reste valor exclusivamente al tacto, pues el sonido es un punto y aparte-Comodidad-el auricular tiene una gran cantidad de Nibs. mas sin embargo no es el mas cómodo que haya usado.la sujeción es buena, el nivel de aislamiento es bueno mas no perfecto. son muy ligeros por lo que es fácil olvidarse que los lleva uno puesto.el cable con micrófono particularmente no tiene buena memoria en la unión que sobre cubre la oreja, lo que hace que se mueva mucho. no es amoldable como en otros muchos IEM del mismo estilo. podría decir que la comodidad le daría un 8 de 10. pues no son los mas cómodos pero tampoco son insufribles. la sujeción es buena y el aislamiento es aceptable.-Sonido-aquí entramos en un punto medio entre entender porque se hicieron muy populares, el sonido es magnifico para un In-Ear. los eh usado en la calle con un Reproductor y en casa con un DAC pequeño, el punto magnifico entra al usar el DAC, el audio es muy espacioso, algo oscuro para mi gusto pero fácil de manejar con el EQ (un sutil empuje a agudos entre los 6 kHz los hacen mas transparentes)el estilo de sonido no dista mucho de los Shure SE535 pero teniendo mejor cuerpo pues se percibe el trabajo de las 4 armaduras y su configuración independiente contra el doble bajo de los Shure que oscurece demasiado el sonido.me eh llevado bien este modelo escuchando estilos modernos, Trance, Dubstep, Rock, pero eh sentido que han tropezado en varias pistas de música clásica, instrumental u opera. dejando las voces graves algo ásperas y sintetizadas (posibles problemas de pos procesado de las canciones que use) y las voces femeninas no afecta tanto, percibiéndolas mas naturales y con agradable tono. la separación de instrumentos no es la mejor, esto podría deberse al efecto de sonido oscurecido (mas no fangoso) que dan.-Conclusión-un IEM que se popularizo rápidamente en varios lados de internet, dándoles opiniones muy variadas pero en muchos lados perfectas,mi opinión personal es que, son buenos pero no es para irse de cabeza por ellos, si se tiene el recurso son un buen elemento, si el presupuesto esta mas ajustado y deseas una escena mas brillante pero de buena consistencia, denle la oportunidad a los modelos de 1More Audio. teniendo el modelo QuadDriver logra con su configuración hacer la escucha un deleite sin necesidades de fuentes espectaculares, pero no quiero que se malinterprete la opinión. los HEM8 no son para nada malos, tienen puntos que de manera personal pudieron ser mejores para mi, el sonido es magnifico si se tiene una fuente adecuada (algo mas que un celular ordinario) y por supuesto pistas que tengan buen proceso y calidad de producción. eh usado con el Flacs, DSD de 24 y de 32 bits y hasta MP3 de 320kbps (mientras la producción sea buena el sonido sera tal cual digno de un FlagShip del tipo In-Ear pero siempre que te manejes la fuente adecuada (algo mejor que un SmartPhone ordinario)

I used to have the HEM 1 from this brand and couldn't move on to other brands because the sound was just too good for me. Decided to give this HEM 6 a shot. I haven't been disappointed yet.

100% happy with the product. The quality is as expected. The best pair of headphones I have ever owned. The quality of music it puts out cannot be better. Highly recommend it to people who are serious about listening to good quality music.

Excelentes audífonos con una tonalidad adictiva. Los bajos tienen impacto sin ser demasiado voluminosos. Los medios poseen una claridad extraordinaria con una reproducción de los detalles impecable. Los agudos son suaves pero extendidos, ideales para largas horas de escucha. Una recomendación es utilizarlos con una fuente dedicada (yo los uso con un Chord Mojo) ya que un celular no logrará extraer su máximo potencial y probablemente producirá bajos descontrolados debido a una alta impedancia de salida (se recomiendan impedancias inferiores a 1 Ohm).

GOOD HEADPHONE! THE PRICE IS GOOD, I HAVE SHURE 535, ABOUT $650, BUT HEM6 ONLY 400, BUT I GOT THE BETTER SOUND!